Best of Akbar Birbal

One day, Akbar said to Birbal, “I have often observed that people who have words like ‘wan’ ‘ban’ suffixed to their professional names, are very quarrelsome by nature like, gadiwan, kochwan, darban, etc.” (Meaning cart driver, coach driver, gatekeeper respectively)Birbal replied, “Yes! You are right, Meherban!”(Meharban—The respectful address of ‘Your Mercy’) The face of Emperor […]

Birbal being Emperor Akbar’s greatest favourite had many enemies in the court. Once, a courtier who was jealous of Birbal said to the Emperor, “Maharaj, instead of Birbal, you should appoint the world-famous singer Tansen as your Prime Minister.”The Emperor said, “Well! I shall have to subject them to a test and that will determine

It was Emperor Akbar’s birthday. The court was beautifully decorated. Sweets, perfumes and roses were being distributed in the court. While applying perfume to his hands, one drop of perfume fell on the Emperor’s carpet. The Emperor quickly bent down trying to dab the drop with his finger.But the drop was soaked in the thick

One day, Birbal came to the court very late. When the Emperor wanted to know the reason, he said, “What can I do, Your Majesty? My children started crying today and they were insisting that I should not go to the court. It was with great difficulty that I managed to explain to them that

The Emperor did not like staying in Surat. But quite often, he had to go there for administrative purposes. Now it was Birbal who had to provide the Emperor with some kind of recreation every day to keep him in a jovial mood.One day, the Emperor asked Birbal to put on some act. Birbal listened

Akbar’s mother died when he was very young. As he was just a baby, he needed mother’s milk for his nourishment. There was a nurse in the palace. She too had a baby and used to breast-feed it. She agreed to breast-feed young Akbar as well. So, both Akbar and the baby of the nurse

One day, the Emperor expressed his desire to see an angel and an ugly witch. He expressed his wish to Birbal.The next day, Birbal came to the court along with his wife and a prostitute. Then presenting his wife he said to the Emperor, “Huzoor, this is an angel. I get endless satisfaction and happiness

A servant, who used to make the Emperor’s bed in the royal bedroom, was one day tempted to lie on it for some time.The servant then secretly lay on it. But then he quickly got up for the fear that someone might see him.But a guard had already seen him getting out of the bed.

Once, Birbal fell ill and didn’t attend the court for many days. The Emperor got anxious and thought of visiting Birbal.So one day, he went to Birbal’s place. Birbal was very happy to see the Emperor.Birbal had become very weak due to his illness. The Emperor wanted to know if Birbal’s illness had affected his

Once, there arose a dispute between an oil-seller and a butcher. Failing to settle it by themselves, they went to Birbal.When Birbal asked the butcher about the dispute, he said, “I was selling meat in my shop when this oil-seller approached me. I needed some oil and went in to fetch a container. But when

One day, the Emperor said to Birbal, “Birbal, in your holy book, it is written somewhere that, once Lord Vishnu ran all alone, upon hearing the cries of an elephant. He didn’t even take his servants along. Why was it so? Weren’t there any servants?”Birbal said, “Huzoor, I shall answer your question at the right

One day, the Emperor thought of an idea and decided to tease Birbal. He gave his ring to one of the courtiers and asked him to keep quiet. When Birbal came to the court, the Emperor said, “Birbal, today while taking a bath I lost my ring. But I am sure that one of the

One day, the Emperor and Birbal while taking a walk reached a small village.On the way, the Emperor saw a dog that was eating a black and dried-up piece of roti.The Emperor thought of teasing Birbal. He said, “Look Birbal! That dog is eating ‘Kali’.” (Kali literally means Black.)Birbal understood what the Emperor meant. He

The Emperor and his two sons often used to go to the river to take a bath. Sometimes, Birbal too accompanied the royal family.Once as usual, they went for a bath in the Yamuna along with Birbal. The Emperor with his two sons descended into the river water after undressing. Birbal watched them silently. After

One night, Akbar dreamt that all his teeth except one had fallen.The next morning, he called all the astrologers of the kingdom to his court. He told them about his strange dream and asked them to decipher its meaning.The astrologers discussed the Emperor’s dream for long and arrived at a conclusion, “Your Majesty, your dream